Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of an air conditioning apparatus, and more particularly to the configuration of an air conditioning system which is capable of more efficiently performing air conditioning under specified driving conditions.
Description of Related Art
Generally, vehicles are provided with an air conditioning system for cooling or heating a passenger compartment. The air conditioning system aims to maintain the temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle in a pleasant and comfortable condition.
A cooling apparatus of the air conditioning system includes a compressor that compresses refrigerant, a condenser that condenses the refrigerant compressed by the compressor, an expansion valve that converts the refrigerant, which has been condensed and liquefied by the condenser, into a high-temperature and high-pressure state, and an evaporator that uses evaporation latent heat of the refrigerant to cool air. Such a cooling system typically reduces the temperature of air and adjusts the absolute humidity.
A heating system for vehicles uses, as a heat source, coolant that is in a high-temperature state by absorbing heat from an engine to reduce the temperature of the engine room. The heating system typically includes a heater core and a pump for circulating coolant of the engine. Generally, such a heating system increases the temperature of air and adjusts the relative humidity.
Although conventional air conditioning systems use a cooling apparatus to supply cooled air to a passenger compartment and use coolant of an engine to supply hot air thereto, modifications in structure of the systems may be required depending on vehicle driving conditions. Particularly, in the case where there is no coolant for the engine, it is difficult to configure the conventional air conditioning system, and the system is inefficient.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.